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For the record, I looked up vignette and this sparkling little beauty fits the bill in more ways than one. -Erin

When I started this year’s No Ugly Ornament Series I had no idea what to expect. This was the first time I’d ever had guest posters and quite honestly I constantly questioned how I managed to get such talented bloggers to share their stuff on my little blog. I thought for sure there must have been a misunderstanding and at any minute I’d get the e-mail saying, “Sorry…” But guess what? That message never came and this past month has left me completely humbled by the friends and relationships made through blogging and reminded of the positive effects of connected with like-minded folks. Thank You all and I hope you’ll stop by again next year!

Now for the final ornament…

I was torn on what to name it. Christmas Figurines in a Toilet Paper Rolls seemed too descriptive but it does explain things quite well. The idea behind this ornament has been on my mind since last year and it’s taken all that time for me to finally make the darn thing. Of course, now that it’s done I don’t know what kept me from making them sooner. They’re super easy and have a retro feel I just love.

Directions
I started out by cutting the toilet paper roll into 1 inch segments with pinking shears.

Next, I went ahead and strung the ornament using the needle and thread.

Then I painted the inside and outside with a mixture of white paint and white glitter. Honestly, the glitter wasn’t really needed but I wanted to make sure it was sparkly. I did leave one ornament unpainted and opted for green glitter in an attempt to make it more ‘nature-like.’

Once the paint was dry I painted a layer of glue on the inside and dipped the entire ornament into the fake snow.

Word to the wise…don’t buy this product. Why? Remember long ago when you’d rip open the newest Pearl Jam cd and there’d always be one or two pieces of plastic wrapping that’d stick to your hand, hair, clothes, whatever and it wouldn’t go away? Well, someone thought it would be an awesome idea to gather up all those annoying little pieces of plastic, stick them in a bag, and put a price tag on it so idiots like me would come along and buy it. Don’t be like me.

Despite the mess that is still all over the tablecloth it did look good, so maybe you should buy a bag, but wait until it’s on clearance.

With the insides looking like a frosty winter scene it’s time to add the sparkle to the outside by hot gluing the tinsel ribbon around the tube.

For real, I’m just completely in love with these guys, I want to make more and more of them! In fact I’m going to be using the empty ribbon roll to make a larger ornament with a more complete scene in it. I’ll share that one on Facebook when I’m done, be sure to check it out!

It’s not Christmas around our house unless there’s an owl on the tree! Love these ones by Emily. –Erin

I was so excited when Erin from over at My Very Educated Mother contacted me to be involved with her " No Ugly ornament " Series over on her blog. That started me thinking on what I wanted to make. Maybe my idea of not ugly is someone else's idea of very ugly! Hmm.... what to do?

I was surfing around the net one day when I came across this image from Lilian Vernon.

It was so cute and so simple I knew I could redo it it myself and make it more cuddly and warm for the holidays. I have a new interest in felt over the past year so I went off in search of a felt ball or something round I could cover with felt. But then I went to Target and found these sweater ball ornaments for $3 a piece. Perfect! Done and done. It wasn't felt but it was sweater material so that worked for me.

I started to sketch out what colors should go where since I knew I anted to be all Christmas colors. I bought my felt ans was ready to go.

I tried to freehand some circles but that ended in disaster. If you can do that, more power to ya. I found a pill bottle ( for the eye circles), a nickel ( for the smaller eye circle), and a princess cup ( for the wings) which I then switched out for a Ziploc container when I realized it would be too small:) I set them up on the felt and cut my circles.

Cut out your circles and make sure they look ok when they are all laying on top of each other. I did freehand the little beaks and feet. The feet on the other version were just too hard for me to pull off.

Slowly start hot gluing them ( or whatever way sounds good to you) onto your circle. I did this very slowly so I was sure where everything was going.

When I got to the wings, I wasn't sure how to approach them. I decided to take my large circle , cut it in half, and then overlap them together like a wing or feathers might look. It gave me the smooth look I was going for.

I decided to make two owls, one for each girl. They are so cute and fuzzy. I love them.

The tree here at our house is nothing but homemade or store bought but with a purpose. I try to buy/make things that the girls are into every year around this time. It's like a time capsule to look back on. My mom did the same thing for me and I love passing on the tradition. The girls get at least one new ornament a year that I will pass on to them when they get their own place someday.

By the way..... I'm Emily and I have a little blog called Entirely Emily where I talk about anything and everything. I get my craft on, take some pics,and show you around my hometown, Saint Louis. I hope you'll stop by.

I’ve seen paper stars but this is a new one for me so I had to give it a try. Scroll to the bottom and check it out! -Erin

*NUO* Paper Starburst Ornaments

Hi there! I'm Cyn from Creative Cynchronicity and I'm so excited to be taking part in the No Ugly Ornament series. This paper starburst is one of my all time favourite ornaments to make. Let's get started!

1 - You can use scrapbooking paper, recycled paper such as from a book, or, as I am here, 6 inch square origami paper. A very light cardstock may work too but anything heavier than that tends to buckle as you start making your folds. You might want to experiment by making one of the shapes and see if it works before doing the cutting of all the squares.

2 - For the ornament, I'm cutting these 6 inch squares into four 3 inch squares. You can work with other sizes too - smaller squares for smaller ornaments or even larger squares to make it into a starburst mini photo album.

3 - Both sides of the paper will show so you need to bear that in mind. I'm working with double-sided paper because I like the contrast. You can even do some rubber stamping or add photographs to personalize your ornament.

4 - I laid the square red side up and folded it in half. You want to make good crisp folds.

5 - Open up the folded square and fold it in the other direction.

6 - Open the square up.

7 - Flip it over to the other side (so as you can see, this time I have it gold side up).

8 - Fold it in half diagonally.

9 - Open up the square again with the side you had facing up in the first step (in this case red) face up.

10 - Allowing it to naturally follow the folds that you've made, press and crease the folds so that you've formed a smaller square that folds out into the bigger one. I always think it looks like a mouth at this point.

11 - Make more of these shapes. How many you will need depends on the thickness of the paper, how big your squares are, and how full you want the starburst to be. I find that 6-8 is generally what I need for most of the ornaments I make. I used 6 this time. I started some with the red side facing up and some with the gold side facing up. Whatever colour is facing up when you begin will become the colour that is on the inside of the "mouth" shape.

12 - Start gluing your shapes together. Glue a loop of ribbon between the first two to form a hanger for the ornament. My preferred glue for this is Aleene's Tacky Glue-stick. You can use a liquid glue but some thinner papers such as some used for origami, I find it makes the paper buckle. Beacon's 3 in 1 is often a good alternative there. Important note: this loop of ribbon needs to come out from the side of the "open mouths".
13 - Continue gluing your shapes to each side of the ribbon loop so that you have an even number on each side. Be sure that the "mouth" is opening out in the same direction for each shape.

14 - Glue a piece of ribbon onto each of the end pieces. I usually start with pieces about 6 inches long and then trim them down from there once I'm happy with how they tie.
15 - When you make the two end papers "kiss", you'll be able to tie your two strips of ribbon together to form the starburst. Hang it from the ribbon loop and you've got a lovely ornament for your tree!

16 - One of the things I love best about this ornament is that you can fold it right up, tie the strips of ribbon to hold it in place and you've got a relatively flat little gift that you can include in a Christmas card. It's a nice way to add a special touch to your cards without costing more in postage!

Isn’t this ornament from Laura amazing? Just wait ‘til you see what it’s made from! -Erin

It's a joy to be contributing to the 'No Ugly Ornament Series'! Thanks so much for having me a part of it, Erin! For those who don't know me, my name is Laura, and I'm the main author, artist and photographer over at House Of Joyful Noise, where we 'Creatively Live Out Loud', every day.

Winter used to be my least favorite season, here in New England. But I have chosen to embrace it, for there is no doubt that there is beauty in every season, and things that I love in all of them, too. For winter, snowmen are one of those things, to me! I've just always loved them. So I thought it would be fun to make a snowman Christmas tree ornament. It was not only more fun than I expected, I think it came out absolutely adorable. So I'm going to show you how easy it was to create!

Here's the simple supplies that you'll need:
Crayola Model Magic, in White.
Craft wire: 20 gauge or so
Wire cutters
An old sock for the hat
Yarn - Homespun Style. (I used Lion Brand, in Waterfall)
(The sock & yarn will be your snowman's clothing, so you'll want to pick co-ordinating or matching colors that you like.)
Embroidery thread (*optional accent for buttons)
Black beads for the eyes
An orange bead for the nose
Flathead pins, small, like used for tailoring
Pinkish chalk
A tiny brush for the chalk.
E-6000 or a good glue, may come in handy.
Black and Orange permanent Sharpie Markers

This is the Crayola Model Magic. It's 'modeling material'. It's lighter and softer than clay. And yes, it's for kids, I guess.

Have you seen it? Have you ever played with it? It's great stuff!

Take a chunk of the Model Magic into your hands, and roll three balls each smaller than the other. These are the body parts of the snowman: lower body, middle, and head. So size accordingly. My bottom body ball is about 1-1/2". Now I'm sure you're dying to, but don't build a snowman yet!! You'll put them all together in a couple of steps.

Cut about an 8 or 9 inch piece of wire.

Straighten it out as best you can, and then bend it into an L-shape, folding at the middle.

Now, thread the wire up through the center of the big ball first. then middle size, then head, really trying to keep it though the center of the ball and piling them neatly, as shown in the photo above. Why are we using the wire? Well, the modeling material actually sticks together pretty well. But the wire, which will be cut again in the coming steps, serves two purposes: It gives the whole snowman core stability for years of use and packing and unpacking, and we'll also be making a loop at the top to hang the ornament from at the top.

Using your wire cutters, cut the wire at the top leaving an inch or 1-1/4" or so.

Then using the nose of the pliers, twist the wire into a loop.

There is still the long wire off of the bottom, but let's leave that for now. I felt like it just helped the snowman stand up while I was working on him.

Let's make his hat now. Shall we?

Cut the ankle part of your sock off of the foot. The ankle/ribbed part of the sock will be the hat. Lengthwise, cut about 1/3 off, as shown in photo. This makes the hat narrower, as you need. You can check for sizing on your snowman head first before you get sewing. Now, fold it the opposite way to get ready to sew it closed along where you just cut, because you'll want to sew it inside out so the stitches later will be on the inside.

Now you all may use a sewing machine if you'd like. But I just stitched it by hand quickly.

I tied off the cut end of the hat, with a matching piece of yarn. And put the finished edge over the head.

But first, I put some thread through the wire loop, and then threaded a needle with both ends of the thread, to pull it up through the hat, so it can be hung on the tree.

And I also did something else before putting the hat on . . . . . .

Do you see that light pencil line right under the hat brim? Right above there I put a dab or few of E-6000 (you can use any glue), before carefully pulling that hat over the head. Just to secure the hat, so it doesn't keep slipping off the head while being handled over the years.

The needle can be taken off now, and just tie the ends in a knot. As I said, you'll use the thread loop to hang it on the tree.

Face time!

Call me an over-planner, but I laid my face out in beads on the table first. Hey, it's the distance of our features, and the curve of our smiles,that make us uniquely looking like US.

Same thing with snowmen! They are individuals too! What a perfect orange bead, for a pointy nose, huh?

For every bead you have, cut a flat head pin to shorten the unnecessary length.

Again I laid out in pencil dots, exactly where I wanted each bead, to form his face.

Much like Mr. Potato head, just put a pin through a bead, and stick it into the snowman head.
(Mr. ♪ Snowman ♫ head ♪ , I-love-you! ♪)

I waited on the mouth, so it wouldn't be in my way to apply some pink blushing cheeks!

You can use any pink colored chalk dust. I just happened to have this chalk palette, and used a tiny pointed brush.

Have you ever heard the saying, that you can always tell someone's age, by looking at their hands?

Right. I'm like, 106.

The mouth is all added.

Now here's another tip: The flat-head pins are silver, right? So, my snowman looked like he had braces! Nothing wrong with braces. But it wasn't the look I was going for. So I used a black permanent Sharpie marker, to color it. And an orange Sharpie for the nose. Worked well enough for me!

Buttons: I used some teal colored embroidery thread, to thread my buttons. Then, because my holes were filled and I couldn't put pins through them, I just used a dab of my E-6000 again, and just pushed them right into the soft modeling material.

Scarf: 3 equal length pieces of the homespun yarn, knotted on both ends, and tied around his neck.

Once you're done crafting your snowman, or sooner, you can take your wire cutters, and cut the wire extending way out from under the snowman. Leave the L shape, so your snowman doesn't slide off. But it doesn't need to be so long. Cut it short enough so it's hidden underneath.

So how does he look?

Cute, right?

I added little stick arms, because seeing snowmen with no arms gives me a little anxiety.
I mean....HELLO! What if he had an itch?

Let's try him out in the Christmas Tree.

I think he looks right at home!

And he is.

Another cute idea if you're ambitious: You could make a whole family of snowmen, and put them all together on a tabletop.

Wishing you all a creative and joyful Christmas season!

* * * * * *

Laura Lee Richard and her family are the creative souls over at theHouse Of Joyful Noise Blog, where they share many of their artistic whims such

as their crafts, DIY ideas, major home projects, good eats, gardening,
photography, homeschooling, random thoughts and more.
You can follow Laura & the House Of Joyful Noise Blog at the following: FACEBOOK - TWITTER - PINTEREST.